As disclosed in the prior art patents mentioned above, it is common practice to provide a motor vehicle with a parking or emergency brake actuating mechanism which generally involves a foot operated or depressed pedal which is forced downwardly to force the parking brake mechanism from the brake release position to the brake engaging or actuating position. Many mechanical devices have been suggested and employed for converting the pivotal movement of the foot actuated pedal into a pulling action for engaging the parking or emergency brakes of a vehicle. These devices generally include an arrangement for securing the brakes in the actuated position. A manual device is employed which releases the parking or emergency brake mechanism to allow a return to the brake release position. The force exerted on the brake is dictated by the amount of force exerted on the cable by the operating mechanism, which is a lever system mounted juxtaposition to the foot actuated pedal lever. In view of the direct mechanical force transmission relationship between the operating mechanism and the brake cable, the lever system of the operating mechanism must cause the desired amount of linear movement for the brake operating cable together with the desired amount of final brake applying force exerted on the cable. These two features have resulted in added complexity for the mechanisms which are used to transmit the oscillating movement of the pedal lever to the linear pulling movement of the brake engaging cable. Because of federal regulations or guidelines, it is necessary to apply at least a given pulling force to the cable when the cable has been shifted to the brake engaging position. Also, the pedal must have a certain preselected movement angle. These features, together with the required actual movement of the cable, have resulted in some brake operating mechanisms which require a pumping action for the lever to obtain the desired amount of cable movement with the final amount of brake applying force. Such a system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,992. This pumping action is not desirable and efforts have been made to provide an actuating mechanism which creates sufficient linear movement of the cable on a single depression or actuation of the parking brake. These efforts have often involved a lever system wherein the brake engaging cable is connected onto the pivoting pedal lever at a sufficient lever arm distance to provide the desired linear movement of the cable. This type of actuator or operating device presents difficulty at the end of the movement, in that the lever arm necessary to obtain the desired movement is counterproductive to the exertion of a magnified force on the brake actuator as the pedal lever approaches the brake engaging or brake actuating position. Consequently, two features required in an operating mechanism have been working at cross purposes in lever systems heretofore provided for mechanical brake operating devices used in parking brakes and emergency brakes for motor vehicles.